Kathmandu - A man reportedly belonging to a low-caste group was beaten to death in Nepal by high caste men for touching their stove, media reports said on Monday.

Manbir Sunar, 30, a Dalit, or low caste member, from Jibutha village in the far-western region, was killed by two men on Saturday after he touched their restaurant's stove while lighting a cigarette, according to Avenues Television.

Officers said they had arrested two men and were investigating.

Nepali society, which is 80% Hindu, still practises a caste-based social system, although laws ban caste discrimination.

"We're living in the 21st century where we're very politically conscious about even the terms we use to denote things," Prakash Chandra Pariyar, a Dalits' rights activist and himself a member of the group, told dpa.

"Nothing can be more barbaric than killing a man for simply touching a stove."

The caste system came to Nepal around 500 BC as Indian Hindus migrated. It divides Hindu Nepali society into four sections, placing the Dalits, or untouchables, at the bottom and the Brahmins, or priests, at the top.

In April, the parliament endorsed a bill against caste discrimination, which laid out punishments for any infringements.

"But incidents like these are an example of oppression and show that the state is still weak in implementing the laws," Pariyar said. - SAPA

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The Central government's new procurement policy will open businessopportunities worth Rs 7,000 crore for Dalit and s (ST) entrepreneurs.These entrepreneurs are now gearing up to tap this opportunity bylaunching their own venture capital fund and increasing theirproduction capacities.

The proposed Rs 500 crore venture capital fund will be the country'sfirst community-focused fund, according to industry representatives.It will help entrepreneurs from the community, from whom financialinstitutions are shying away, said a senior official.

Milind Kamble, chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(DICCI), said that the association has approached the marketregulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), with theproposal. The fund will be launched through a special purpose vehicle.

"The first round of funding will be from domestic investors andbusinessmen from the community and during the second round we willlook at international investors," said Kamble.

Under the recently announced Public Procur-ement Policy for Micro andSmall Enterprises (MSE), a minimum of 20 per cent of total annualpurchases of Central ministries, departments and public sectorundertakings (PSUs) has been reserved for procurement from MSEs.

Of the 20 per cent share of annual procurement from MSEs, a share offour per cent (or 20 per cent of 20 per cent) has been reserved forprocurement from MSEs owned by Dalit and ST entrepreneurs.

To enhance the participation of Dalits and ST in governmentprocurement, all Central ministries, departments and PSUs will have toorganise special vendor development programmes and buyer-seller meets.They will have also to report their targets and achievements withrespect to procurement from MSEs in their annual reports.

Ministries, departments and PSUs which do not meet the mandatory goalof the public procurement policy will be required to provide reasonsto a review committee headed by the secretary to the MSME ministry.

However, the ministry of defence, on account of its unique nature, hadreservations about implementation of the procurement policy for MSEs.Keeping this in view, defence armaments and weapons systems have beenkept out of the purview of the policy.

Kamble of DICCI said that every year the government procures productsand services worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Four per cent of this,amounting to some Rs 7,000 crore, will be reserved for the Dalit andST entrepreneurs.

"We are happy, since we now know there is an assured market. With thiswe can now go in for expansion and other new initiatives," saidKamble. Entrepreneurs from the community are already suppliers to bigbrands such as Tata, Bajaj, Hero Honda and Kirloskar, among others.

The Dalit population in the country is estimated at 200 million, orone-sixth of India's population, of which 15 per cent areentrepreneurs, said Kamble. However, according to him, they controlonly one per cent of the country's wealth.

"Our community members want to grow, but cannot find anyone to lendthem money to start a unit," he said. Being a Dalit means virtually noassets, so people from the community end up going to private lenders.Credit facilities to start a business are hard to come by for thecommunity, he added.

"Trade and enterprise have never been part of our tradition. The onlytrade traditionally linked with Dalits is leather work," he noted.Dalits need support in terms of training, identifying the market andfinancial help, which DICCI provides, he added.

There are no problems that are peculiar to the Dalits once they get tothe market. "But reaching there is a problem, given that they areeducationally and economically backward." To address this lacuna,DICCI counsels entrepreneurs, provides them with support, andidentifies markets for them.

Those role over the leftovers are doing it voluntarily, why blame others. Dr. Ambedkar had asked you to behave with dignity, give up traditional vocations, move out of villages, educate your children.

Quoting Greek philosopher he had said, "It may be your interest to be our masters, how can it be ours to be your slaves?"

Why should the Dalits go to any Brahminic temple, to start with. They must be Harijans, not Dalits. Why bother your and our heads for Harijans? Let them rot in their ignorance. If you do not follow Ambedkar, you are going to be humiliated.Why blame Tendulkar and his ilk, it is their duty to humiliate you. You must yourself behave honorably.

During the three-day Champa Shasti festival, Shivalli Brahmins are served meals at the Kukke Subramanya temple of Karnataka Once the meal is over, Dalits, backwards and people from the local tribes are allowed to roll on the leftovers The belief is the ritual will cure the 'devotees' of ailments The ritual has got a lot of flak from progressive groups The state department that administers temples allowed the ritual, adding to the controversy

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The annual Champa Shasti festival held over November and December at the Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has an unusual tradition. On all three days, the Shivalli Brahmins are served a multi-course meal in seclusion in the temple precincts. And after they are through, instead of clearing the spread plantain leaves on which the food's served, Dalits, backwards and local tribespeople are allowed to roll on the leftovers.

The belief is this ritual will cure the 'devotee' of ailments, especially skin-related ones, and will gift a child to those praying for a baby. It's also considered an ideal form of thanksgiving to the local deity after "wish fulfilment". The ritual, called 'maade snana' in Tulu and Kannada, is said to be over four hundred years old but there are no written records to prove such a claim.

As the tradition reinforces and 'enacts' caste hierarchies, where even a Brahmin's 'jhoota' is bestowed with powers to cure people from subaltern communities, it had been catching a lot of flak since last year from progressive groups in the state. Especially as this was being allowed in a temple that belongs to the muzrai department, a state-run body which administers Hindu temples.

Last week, though, saw protests heating up more because after the huge outcry last year, the local administration had promised to end this ritual which violates basic human dignity. Apparently, under "pressure from devotees", the administration allowed the practice from November 28 onwards. Nearly 4,000 people joined up to roll over the leftovers.

What took the row beyond the usual temple affairs level was muzrai and higher education minister Dr V.S. Acharya's statement that it was a "faith-based ritual and banning it was tantamount to hurting the sentiments of the people". People immediately started questioning not only his credentials as a trained medical doctor, but also his RSS roots. They began asking if he would similarly allow dowry, child marriage and other social evils as they are also faith-based?

The fact that the Kukke Subramanya temple is in Dakshina Kannada district has also added political colour to the controversy. The district has been a hot-bed of Hindutva politics of late (in 2008, it even saw a number of attacks on churches). Also, many VIP members of the state cabinet like Acharya, Shobha Karandlaje and CM Sadananda Gowda hail from the region. A statement by Vishwesha Theertha Swamiji of the Udupi Pejawar math, a VHP leader himself, has not helped matters. In a nonchalant manner, he announced that he neither "vehemently opposed nor strongly supported" the ritual.

The complexity of the issue unravels itself when we take into consideration the largely illiterate Malekudiya tribe's support for the ritual. When the local administration hinted at a ban, members of the ST community went on a rampage, even declaring that they would stay away from building the deity's chariot, a traditional activity they have performed for years during the festival season. (If the chariot is not built, the festival will remain incomplete without the final procession of the deity.)

K.S. Shivaramu of the Karnataka Backward Class Awareness Forum believes "the backwards, Dalits and the Malekudiyas are being pushed by the Brahmins of the region to perform this ritual. They are exploiting their ignorance. They want to keep the caste divide alive." Incidentally, Shivaramu, who went on a fact-finding mission to Kukke on November 30, was thrashed by the temple workers. "Those who attacked me were all innocent backward class people. After they attacked me, they were felicitated by the temple's chief priest who is a Brahmin. One temple worker from the Malekudiya tribe, Nagesh, was suspended for leading the attack. The irony of the situation is those who do the ritual are backwards, those who thrash me are backwards, those who are penalised for it are backwards and those who seek a ban are also backwards," he says wryly.

Advocate and ex-chairman of the state Backward Classes Commission, Dr C.S. Dwarakanath, sees clever commercial interests at play here. He also alleges that the ritual is part of the revivalist agenda of the Sangh parivar. "The Kukke temple, tucked away in the forests and controlled by Brahmins, was never as popular as the nearby Dharmastala temple controlled by the Jains. This controversy has helped them generate some further popularity for the temple and its powers. In recent years, the temple has seen VIP visitors like Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri and some very big politicians. It's sad that these people visited a temple which perpetuates such human indignities."

Interestingly, except for the Left parties, no other political party in the state has so far spoken out against the ritual. "In this case, the secular parties like the Congress and JD(S) look more dangerous than the BJP. They are only worried about their votebanks," says a frustrated Dwarakanath. Writer and activist G.K. Govinda Rao, however, feels it isn't enough that political parties and the government push for a ban. The caste maths and pontiffs, who are otherwise so powerful, should unilaterally demand it. Some years ago, another heinous ritual called 'Ajalu', practised against the Koraga tribe, was banned by the government. 'Ajalu' had Brahmins giving leftover food as alms to them with an added bonus—a strand of their hair and a finger nail mixed in.

Last Wednesday, after a week-long debate, the state government voiced an opinion—in a rather feeble voice. Social justice minister A. Narayanaswamy, incidentally a Dalit, said that they may consider banning the ritual. Till that happens, it will be a whole social ethic mucking about in the leftovers.

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